"Can one stain 'New' Red Oak to match 'Old' Red Oak?" This is tuff to do. When we do a repair in an old Vancouver Home I often use some Shellac first and then top coat with Polyurethane. The shellac gives me the aged look or yellowing and the two seam to work well together. Some times we tint the top coat a little. Judgement calls since sunlight and time will yellow the top coat so making it look right now might make it look wrong in a year.....

Thank you very much millworkman. I am going to query the contractor to find out what they will use for the deck framing as that was not listed in the estimate. I don't know if he plans on using the current framing or not, but will find out. Ntruro, I don't mind the grey at all, but thanks for the insite.

The cause of color fading is primarily UV light and that will not be uniform. The later darkening is caused by fungus and it will also not be uniform. Trying to prevent these natural processes from happening is difficult and expensive. Siding stain is essentially the same as paint except the synthetic resin binder that interacts with the linseed oil to form a tough surface film in paint is greatly reduced in stain. With both materials, after the linseed oil and mineral spirits mixture penetrates the wood and the solvents start to evaporate, the oil combines with the resins and oxidizes leaving a tough surface film in paint and a soft pigment finish in stain. One of the major advantages of stain is that the lower resin content allows the oxidizing of the oil to occur within the wood. Cabot makes a very low-pigmented, solvent-based, oil-modified (linseed oil modified with alkyd resin) stain in 4 colors called "Wood Toned Deck & Siding Stain" (#3000 series). It slightly darkens the wood and provides a flat translucent finish with UV and fungus protection. The finish is supposed to slowly weather to a natural wood hue. Field applying stain to shingles that have already been factory dipped in stain at the factory is a bad idea and not recommended by Cabot so you should ignore your architect's advice on this matter. A second coat of stain must be applied while the first coat is still wet otherwise the second coat cannot penetrate the wood and may leave a sticky top coat. The same problem can occur with an excessive first coat. Stain does not build up a finish like paint. This issue can also make frequent recoatings difficult unless the surface is very carefully prepared each time as recommended by Cabot. There are pressure treated shingles that will hold their color and resist decay but I have not used them. Here is a link that might be useful: Cabot Wood Toned Deck & Siding Stain

Western red cedar is the "greener" choice. Most sources are sustainably harvested timber forests in British Columbia. If a part wears out and you need a carpenter to fix it, the repair is going to match better and cost less. Paint the door with an oil paint neutral (transparent) tint base, with no pigment added, it will provide excellent protection and dry clear. I recommend Hollandlac Brilliant Base Transparent, made by fine paints of europe.